Backing up Blog Post 2 from DrakeG's blog
Here is part 2 of 12
Welcome back, glad to see those of you back again and all the new faces. Lets talk about how effective hypnosis can be. As a reminder this is all based on my opinions and experiences. How effective hypnosis is has to do with a few factors, but the biggest is the person being hypnotized. This in no way means that if hypnosis didn’t work for someone that they are a bad subject. As Mike Mandel says, there are no bad subjects or if there are, they go somewhere else. So how can the person being hypnotized be the biggest factor and issues with the trance not mean that they are a bad subject both be true? Well other factors still come into play like the skill of the hypnotist, level of trust between the two, and if the subject is actually ready to make the change.
The reason that the subject is still the biggest factor is that even when working with a hypnotist, the subject is still in control of the the trance. The hypnotist is a guide who leads the subject into a trance and to their goals. This means the more the person wants to change, the greater the change will be. Going into trance is also a skill, so the more you practice it, the easier it is to do. One caveat is that, as with most things trying too hard can make things more difficult than it needs to be.
The hypnotist’s skill is important. While they are a guide, the more skilled they are at navigating the subconscious and adjusting their method to better match the subject, the better the effect. The way the changes are phrased can make a big difference in how the subject internalizes the changes. Trust and rapport also builds into this. This leads to an interesting effect that the more you believe the hypnotist can do, the more they actually can. Then the more they do, the more you believe that they can do. This self feeding cycle can lead to very powerful effects.
With all of that out of the way, how effective hypnosis is also depends on what change is trying to be made. Since hypnosis is an effect of the mind and the mind controls our perception of the world, the best changes are mental or perception based. Hypnosis is not going to make you drop 20 pounds over night, but it can help you build the habits to get you there. It can adjust your sensation of pain to help relieve it without the need for pain killers, but it will not fix the cause so care still needs to be taken not to make it worse.
The short version is that the human mind is complicated. How well a given change will work depends. If you take a deep breath, relax, and go with the flow while working with someone skilled that you trust greatly it will lead to great results. Practice makes perfect and trying new things lets you find your preferences. The best way to do hypnosis, is the way that works for you.
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